The Pride of St. Louis

Ok, so this is not as good as Pride of the Yankees; just like the Cardinals are not as great as the Yankee franchise. But as far as the National League goes, the Cardinals are the best of the bunch.; better than the Giants, Dodgers, or Cubs. They have more World Series rings to prove it, too. This film is very close to Pride of the Yankees in several ways. Gehrig caught a bad break with his terrible disease, and Dean had a magnificent career cut short by a stroke of horrible luck from a line drive to the most pivotal part of a pitcher's body, the big toe. Simply put, if you land the wrong way on your foot and toe, the arm will quickly go to pot. At least Gehrig got to play fifteen years with the Yankees before his unfortunate end. The injury to Dean happened just a few years into his career. The acting in this film is very good; as are all the supporting cast members and especially the dialogue. Dean' s rebirth and affirmation as the best color man in baseball history is readily apparent in the film. Only Phil Rizzuto came close as an unforgettable color announcer. A must see film for every baseball fan.

Dan Dailey is a bright spot in this otherwise run of the mill baseball movie that could have been so much better. Like most films that deal with baseball, you don't get the idea that you are seeing anything close to realistic play on the field. If you love baseball as I do, try Pride of the Yankees, with Gary Cooper. In it many of the Yankee players actually were seen on the filed including the great Babe Ruth.

Jerome Hanna 'Dizzy' Dean from the Ozarks has the gift of gab. He's also a pretty good baseball player. He would rise up to be a Hall of Fame pitcher for almost two decades in the Major Leagues and later as a broadcaster after a career ending injury. He pursues Patricia Nash who becomes his wife. During an early outing, he almost gets a perfect game but for one home run. After the home run, the opposing team taunts him as Dizzy.

Dizzy is well before my time. I've heard of the guy but don't know anything about him. It's an amiable character but the drama is extremely low. It's a lazy, easy day at the park just like watching baseball nowadays. I can certainly understand his appeal with his friendliness. The audience who love Dizzy would love this movie. As a person who knows nothing, it's a rather flat drama with a likeable lead.

Pride of St. Louis, The (1952)

*** (out of 4)

Pretty good bio-pic about Jerome "Dizzy" Dean (Dan Dailey), a redneck who rose through the minors at a quick pace to end up with the St. Louis Cardinals and for a time be one of the greatest pitchers in the lead. After being injured during the All-Star game, Dizzy's career quickly fell apart and his personal life grew more issues as he was unable to accept that his career was over. It seems after the success of PRIDE OF THE YANKEES, just about every major personality in baseball eventually got their own movie and this one here has quite a few negatives but the wonderful performance by Dailey makes it worth sitting through. I think the biggest problem is that a lot of the subject matter is obviously sugar-coated as there are times where it seems Dizzy is going through some extremely dark issues with his attitude and some of his habits yet this are downplayed. I'm not sure if they were originally shown more but they decided to tone them down to be more kid friendly but it's just way too obvious at certain parts of the film. Another weak aspect is that the movie doesn't seem to know what they want to tell us about Dizzy as the film bounces around quite a bit and at times has a hard time on what part of the story it wants to focus on. With that said, there's still some very entertaining moments here including a couple very touching ones. One such moment happens when Dizzy meets a crippled man and starts up a relationship with him. Another moment happens towards the end of the picture when Dizzy gets a job as a radio broadcaster but a certain teachers group starts to complain about his language. Since he was uneducated he used a lot of words he shouldn't and this leads to a very good ending. The main reason to watch this thing is for the performance of Dailey who really takes this character and makes it his own. The way he handles the "redneck" language is very good but the biggest thing is that he brings this wonderful personality to life and really makes you feel as if you're watching the real man. He also handles the baseball scenes fairly well and in the end he's extremely memorable in the role. Joanne Dru also delivers as his wife and Richard Crenna is fun as the brother. The screenplay got an Oscar-nomination and while I didn't care for the way it handled parts of the story, there's no denying that the dialogue is terrific. The way it captures Dean's language made for some great fun and especially in the early scenes as the pitcher constantly gets ahead of himself no matter what he's doing. This certainly isn't the greatest baseball movie ever made but for fans of the sport it's a must-see thanks in large part to the main performance.

Dan Dailey gives a sincere and colorful performance as the great Dizzy Dean. His handling of the character is very true to life and captures the flavor of Dean's background and limited education. The film of course centers around Dizzy Deans rise to fame and his sudden trip to the sidelines with an injury he chose to ignore, much to his regret. His wife is splendidly portrayed by Joanna Dru who gives a very down to earth quality to the woman who loved and supported the ballplayer who rose to a "dizzying height" so quickly. The portrayal of Dizzy's later career as a sportscaster is honest and unflinching, reflecting his troubles which stemmed from his poor education and his colorful language both on and off the air. Dizzy was quite a character and Daily has breathed life into his story with admirable skill. If you enjoyed this film, I recommend the comedy "Kid from Left Field" (1953) wherein Daily plays a down and out has-been ballplayer idolized by his young son (Billy Chapin). Daily again fleshes out a ballplayer in a completely satisfying manner. I heartily recommend Pride of St. Louis to baseball fans everywhere.